Teaching First Year Students: Best Practices and New Ideas

First-year students often come to college with a mix of hope, concern, apprehension, and excitement. For many, the challenges, opportunities, and experiences they encounter in their first year become foundational and often predict whether or not they continue in higher education. Because of this, it can feel daunting to teach courses with a high percentage of first-year students and/or returning students, especially in a highly technological, post-COVID world. This session will explore evidence-based examples of best practices and new strategies for teaching and reaching first-year students across disciplines and in a variety of formats (in-person, online, flipped, etc). This session will also review current trends, characteristics, expectations, and fears of today's incoming freshmen and offer supportive tips, tools, and resources to improve an instructors's level of courage and confidence.